MUNIMAP

MUNIMAP, an Interreg Baltic Sea Region-funded project, paves the way for safer seas by developing frameworks for munitions remediation in the Baltic Sea and Skagerrak, protecting our marine ecosystem and boosting the sustainable blue economy. Project summary: Historical contamination of the Baltic Sea and Skagerrak by both chemical and conventional dumped munitions remains a serious threat to the marine ecosystem and a hindrance to maritime economy. Authorities responsible for the management of marine areas are facing many obstacles when it comes to remediation of these munitions. Not only are they operating in an unclear legal environment and frequently have neither resources nor official mandate to deal with the problem, but there are also many uncertainties about how to tackle the problem in practical terms without harming people and environment. Although the last decade has seen a lot of work in the Baltic Sea Region (BSR) on this topic, much to the credit of our former INTERREG projects, the national debates are on very different stages. MUNIMAP will activate, speed up and coordinate these national processes by setting up a modular, adaptable roadmap towards Baltic Sea munitions remediation. The different elements of the Roadmap such as policy recommendations, IT solutions for site prioritization, monitoring strategy and innovative, cost-efficient and environmentally friendly remediation methods will be developed and evaluated together with their user groups. The MUNIMAP pilot activities will show case multiple stages of the remediation process, starting with locating and identifying the munitions, via risk assessment, site prioritization, remediation and monitoring, utilization and evaluation of results.